Resolved 2gb non-sun/moonroof dome light

[kenamond]

Note that this is for a non-sun/moon roof 2gb talon.

The driver's side light has had problems for a long time. The passenger side has always worked fine. For a while, I could punch the ceiling next to the dome light to get it to work (works for a lot of appliances, too!), so I'm thinking that means its a loose wire in the dome light assembly. Eventually, hitting the ceiling stopped working altogether. That behavior tells me it wasn't the bulb or the door switch, though it may be the bulb now (since hitting the ceiling stopped working) *plus* the loose wire or whatever.

I've found threads talking about replacing the bulb and stuff for 1g dome lights, but I'd like to know how to remove the entire dome light assembly to get at the wiring without breaking anything. I'd bet it's clipped in, but if it's bolted and I try yanking it down, I might break something.

How do I do this?

Thanks!

 

[turbosax2]

Pop the clear plastic lens off carefully using a screwdriver. Once you get that off it should be pretty easy to figure out how to get the housing off. Sorry I can't be of more help.

Edit: Found this on the Mitsubishi manual CD.

 

[roadrunner2176]

You might also want to consider checking the switch located inside the door jamb. If the switch has gone bad, or is grounding out, this would cause the problems as well. Sounds to me like you have a loose ground. If the power was bad, the entire system would fail. The system works on a loop, so one bad ground on either side could cause the other side, or anything farther down the line to fault.

 

[kenamond]

You might also want to consider checking the switch located inside the door jamb. If the switch has gone bad, or is grounding out, this would cause the problems as well. Sounds to me like you have a loose ground. If the power was bad, the entire system would fail. The system works on a loop, so one bad ground on either side could cause the other side, or anything farther down the line to fault.

It's not the door switch (or wasn't when the problem first started like 10 years ago). The passenger side of the dome light did and still does work just fine; on when I open the door, fades off after 10 or 20 seconds after door closes or ignition is turned on. It's just the driver's side light that doesn't respond to the button. Again, it would turn on fine sometimes and others it wouldn't until I smacked the headliner. Then it just stopped coming on altogether.

Thanks for the info guys!

 

[kenamond]

post back on how u solved the problem im having the same thing happen to my car

If your symptoms are like mine, then maybe you have the same problem. If it's not coming on on either side, there are several things that could be wrong. A very common one is that the switch on the dome light itself is off. The other is that the door switch (like a refrigerator light switch) is sticking in the closed position (doesn't pop out when you open the door). If that happens, the light doesn't come on when you open the door, but both sides will do this, and the passenger door may very well work and turn the light on (because that switch isn't sticking). The other is a burned out bulb or bulbs. The last is wiring shorts or fuses. I'm convinced mine's a short or loose connection in the dome light itself, but that's because of the symptoms I have which eliminate most of the other possibilities.

But I'll try to remember to post my results.

 

[rhino4]

My interior lights work when i open the doors but the dome lights never work. and the switches/buttons dont do anything for it. im thinkin burnt bulb bad ground or loose wire idk ill have time tomorrow to work on it. thanks

 

[kenamond]

Fixed it. Turned out to be the bulb. Broke the other bulb in the process.

Anyway, I took some pictures of the dome light assembly out of the car and may post those up soon. There's a trick for removing everything, and you don't need to worry about scratching anything you can see.

There are metal clips on the windshield side of the assembly that will bend out of the way as you pry the assembly away from the roof. The rear side has plastic hooks. So the trick is to wedge your fingertips between the assembly and headliner on the windshield side. The assembly will pop down on that front side (where the flexible metal clips are) and then the rear side (with the plastic hooks) will just "unhook". Then you pull the assembly out and remove the plug.

Then you can see how the clear lense part of the assembly is clipped in (four plastic "hooks" that seat into the assembly). Once you get it in your lap, you'll see how to remove the lens without scratching anything you'd see when everything's installed and you're sitting in the car.

Don't break the bulbs getting them out. They have conical metal caps on each end, and the points of the cones seat into small metal brackets. The bracket on one end is bent at the tip, and that's the end of the bulb to remove first (I removed the other end first and broke the cone metal endcap off the bulb that was working). The bent part of the bracket gives you somewhere to push the bracket and open up the fixture so that the bulb will fall out. When you replace the bulb, put that end in last.

Anyway, a lot of this will make sense with some pictures, but if you can get the assembly out of the roof of the car, you'll see what I'm talking about.